Fuji International Speedway, Japan – Seven days ago it was the NISMO Festival supported by Motul, last weekend we were back to Fuji International Speedway for the second round of the Asian Le Mans Series.

Stephane Richelmi, Harrison Newey and Thomas Laurent took their second victory of the season but did not have everything their own way. The trio had to chase down the No.37 BBT Ligier JS P2 of Anthony Xu Liu, Davide Rizzo and Nissan IMSA ace Pipo Derani in the final hour to take the win.

"My teammates did a really good job at the start of the race, I was around 20 or 30 seconds behind the BBT car in front of us," said Laurent.

"I was able to close the gap and pass him in my first stint and I tried to manage our tyres for the rest of the race while managing my lead."

In LM P3 it was a race of attrition but the No. 6 Jackie Chan DC Racing x Jota Sport Ligier JS P3 of Americans Patrick Byrne and Guy Cosmo took the victory - their first in the Asian Le Mans Series championship.

All 11 prototype machines in the Asian Le Mans Series are powered by Nissan. The next round of the championship is scheduled for the Chang International Circuit in Thailand on January 13.

ANDRE HEIMGARTNER JOINS NISSAN MOTORSPORT SUPERCARS FOR '18

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia – Nissan Motorsport will take on New Zealander Andre Heimgartner as part of it's 2018 Supercars driver lineup.

“I’m delighted to reveal that I’ll be joining Nissan Motorsport next year,” said Heimgartner.

“The team and the facility are world class.

"Rick and Michael both have heaps of experience in Supercars, plus Simona has raced Indycar and Formula E, so I hope to learn a lot.”

Heimgartner has previously raced in the Supercars Championship for Super Black Racing. However, this is the first time he will be representing a factory squad.

“Nissan is a major global brand racing across the world, so it’s exciting to be aligned with them into the future,” continued Heimgartner.

“It’s a shame there’s still a few months until we’re racing again. I want to jump in the car and get going.”

Heimgartner’s drives in the wet at this year’s Bathurst 1000 and Gold Coast 600 are what captured the attention of Todd Kelly.

“We’re really excited to have Andre as part of the team,” said Kelly.

“Andre is a really promising talent and has experience in the main game.

"Our lineup for next season is now pretty diverse but also extremely capable. What Andre was able to achieve in the Pirtek Enduro Cup made the entire paddock stand up and take notice.”

Kelly retired from full-time driving at the end of the 2017 season and only considered reaching that decision once a capable young driver was signed.

“I am comfortable in retiring from racing knowing that we have such a promising young talent driving with us.

ZAMA HERITAGE CENTRE SHOWCASES MORE NISMO HISTORY

Tokyo, Japan – Thousands of fans either attended Fuji International Speedway or tuned in to NISMO.tv to see incredible Nissan motorsport history at last week's NISMO Festival supported by Motul.

But have you ever wondered where this incredible collection of Nissan and NISMO collection of race cars is housed for the rest of the year? Group C, Super GT, Touring Car and even an incredible display of rally cars are all on display at the Zama Heritage Centre.

The Nissan Heritage Collection features not only the company's motorsport past, but also from the road dating back to the Datsun type 12 Phaeton from 1933.

More than 400 vehicles are housed in the facility in Zama, Japan. A unique collection of images from the facility can be viewed on Flickr by clicking here.

More great features from the collection were filmed after the recent NISMO Festival and will be made available for the fans in the months ahead on NISMO.tv on YouTube.

To view the complete collection of cars at the Nissan Heritage Collection, click here.

VIDEO

NISMO went live from the Nissan Heritage Centre on Facebook last week. Check out the video - a hint of the great content to follow on NISMO.tv on YouTube in the future.

HIGH RES DOWNLOADS

Download images from from last weekend's Asian Le Mans Series at Fuji International Speedway, Andre Heimgartner signing for Nissan Motorsport for 2018 and the Nissan Heritage Centre at Zama, Japan.